Adding Another Feather to Her Cap, Telangana Teen Malavath Poorna Scales Antarctica's Highest Peak

Hyderabad: Malavath Poorna, who has won laurels for scaling Mount Everest thereby becoming the youngest girl in the world to achieve the feat, has added another feather to her cap by conquering Mt. Vinson Massif, the Antarctica continent's highest mountain peak (4,987m).

"It was a sense of accomplishment beyond words for Poorna as she conquered Mt. Vinson Massif, the Antarctica continent's highest mountain peak," the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) said in a press release on Monday.

Eighteen-year-old Poorna became the first and youngest tribal woman in the world to set foot on the six tallest mountain peaks across six continents, the release said.

Poorna has so far scaled Mt. Everest (Asia, 2014), Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa, 2016), Mt. Elbrus (Europe, 2017), Mt. Aconcagua (South America, 2019), Mt. Cartsnez (Oceania region, 2019) and Mt. Vinson Massif (Antarctica, 2019), the release said.

She is close to achieving her goal of scaling the seven tallest summits located in seven continents. Poorna is gearing up to scale Mt. Denali (North America’s highest mountain peak), the dream of every mountaineer in the world, the release said.

Poorna thanked Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Minister for Welfare Koppula Eshwar for being the messiahs of poor children in the state, it said.

“I wouldn’t have achieved mountaineering feat, if not for the solid support of the chief minister Chandrasekhar Rao,” the release quoted Poorna saying over a satellite phone.

She thanked TSWREIS secretary RS Praveen Kumar and her coach Sekhar Babu Bachinepally of Transcend Adventures, Hyderabad, also for their support and encouragement, the release said.

Poorna accomplished Mt. Vinson mission with the help of the Telangana government, Transcend Adventures and crowd-funding, it said.

Born into a poor tribal family from Pakala village of Nizamabad district, Poorna is currently pursuing an undergraduate course at the Minnesota State University as a fellow of the Global Undergraduate Exchange Programme, US.

(With inputs from PTI)